It’s always exciting to meet other creatives. We get each other. We don’t need to apologise to each other when we want to stop in the middle of the street to snap a photo. Over spring break, I had the pleasure of collaborating with five Philly-based bloggers from the PHLbloggers group. I’ve chosen one photo from each shoot to share here and say a little something about, but you’ll have to go over to their blogs to check out the full posts with all the photos!
Kept this a secret in case I didn’t follow through, but I made a vlog!
So. You must know that almost all my blog posts are published super late. For example, my trip to Venice was back in August, but I haven’t published this blog post until now. The way I’m able to remember details of the trip and write these blog posts so much later is because I write little notes to myself on my secret Tumblr, and often when I’m on vacation, I’ll post informal diaries on my secret Tumblr. Anyways, I mention this because there’s one “diary” entry that just says: standing at the edge of the boat with the waves beneath my feet, I’ve never wanted more to be a dolphin. I don’t know what else to say about that o.o Okaaay Audrey, moving right along…
My spring break was looking pretty relaxed with not too much to do, which was just the way I had wanted to spend it, but two weeks ago it filled up all of a sudden. There was a comment thread in the PHLbloggers Facebook group on the topic of collaborations. I left a comment saying that I’d love to do lifestyle/style photography for anyone who needed an extra hand (like if someone was working on an outfit post featuring themself and needed an extra hand to take the photo). I was overwhelmed and honoured that six bloggers were interested in collaborating. So that’s what I’ll be up to during my spring break! I’m hoping to spend half of each day doing a photoshoot and editing, and then spend the rest of the day doing my own productive stuff. I’m so excited for this creatively filled spring break and for all the photography I’ll be doing, but I hope that I don’t forget to get my own productive work done as well (most important of which will be finding a summer job…).
– I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. –
To be published by Atlantic Monthly Press on 07 Mar 2017
Goodreads | Amazon
Long considered a master of the form and an essential voice in American fiction, Michael Knight’s stories have been lauded by writers such Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Gilbert, Barry Hannah, and Richard Bausch. Now, with Eveningland he returns to the form that launched his career, delivering an arresting collection of interlinked stories set among the “right kind of Mobile family” in the years preceding a devastating hurricane.
Grappling with dramas both epic and personal, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the “unspeakable misgivings of contentment,” Eveningland captures with crystalline poeticism and perfect authenticity of place the ways in which ordinary life astounds us with its complexity. A teenaged girl with a taste for violence holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year’s Eve; a middle aged couple examines the intricacies of their marriage as they prepare to throw a party; and a real estate mogul in the throes of grief buys up all the property on an island only to be accused of madness by his daughters. These stories, told with economy and precision, infused with humor and pathos, excavate brilliantly the latent desires and motivations that drive life forward.
I’m halfway through my last week before spring break (plug: spring break plans coming to the blog next Monday)! The semester has been going pretty well so far. I have a system for managing my workload, and I’m trying my best to stick to it for as long as possible. This last week and a half has been rough though, especially with professors sliding in midterms and labs just before spring break. But I’ve completed all three of my midterms, and just have two labs to go.
Now seven weeks into the semester, I’m scared that I might start slipping, but I think spring break will save me just in the knick of time to give me space to breathe, relax, rejuvenate, and get fired up to finish the semester off strong. I need to watch less TV shows. Sleep more. Ask for help when I need it. And ask for it early. Not be embarrassed. Keep making time for people I care about. And things I care about doing and making.